Fernando Alonso has warned that his victory in yesterday's Malaysian Grand Prix should not distract his Ferrari team from aggressively developing the F2012 over the coming races.
The Spaniard fended off a determined challenge from Sauber's Sergio Perez to win the rain-affected Sepang race.
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While Alonso now holds the points lead, Ferrari's new car has proven unable to match the dry-weather pace of its McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus opposition over the first two races.
Having qualified 12th in Australia and ninth in Malaysia, Alonso believes that his team's ability to bring effective update packages to the coming races will determine whether or not he is a genuine championship contender.
“I think it changes nothing, to be honest,” said Alonso of his victory.
“We are in a position that we don't want, to be fighting to go into Q3 and then fighting to score some points.
“We want to fight for pole positions, for victories, so definitely in the first two races of the championship that we find ourselves off the pace.
“We didn't lose any points to the leaders, so this is the positive news about these first two races, but coming to China, Bahrain, Barcelona, there is a lot of stuff coming to improve the car and this is the real job we have to do.
“I know the team is putting in a lot of effort. We trust each other a lot in the team, we are very united at the moment and this win will make us very happy today and maybe the next two days in the factory but it doesn't change our determination to improve the car and to keep winning.”
Yesterday's victory was Alonso's third in Malaysia, having previously triumphed there with both Renault and McLaren.